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    When you accelerate quickly and brake hard, what can you anticipate?

    DVSA-style practice question · Safety and your Vehicle

    The answer options

    • Diminished emissions from exhaust
    • Increased fuel consumptionCorrect
    • Increased road safety
    • Less pollution

    Why the other options are wrong

    • “Diminished emissions from exhaust” is a distractor. It does not meet the standard the question is testing, which increased fuel consumption does. Picking it in the real test costs a mark you cannot get back, and with a pass mark of 43 out of 50 you only have seven to spare.
    • “Increased road safety” is a distractor. It does not meet the standard the question is testing, which increased fuel consumption does. Picking it in the real test costs a mark you cannot get back, and with a pass mark of 43 out of 50 you only have seven to spare.
    • “Less pollution” is a distractor. It does not meet the standard the question is testing, which increased fuel consumption does. Picking it in the real test costs a mark you cannot get back, and with a pass mark of 43 out of 50 you only have seven to spare.

    Why that is the answer

    Rapid acceleration forces your engine to work harder and burn significantly more fuel, while heavy braking wastes the energy you have just built up. Official driving guidance emphasises that smooth, planned driving conserves fuel, reduces vehicle wear, and improves safety. Aggressive driving techniques actually increase harmful exhaust emissions and air pollution, so options suggesting reduced pollution or improved safety are completely incorrect.

    What safety and your vehicle covers

    • · Legal minimum tread depth of 1.6mm across the central three-quarters
    • · Dashboard warning lamp colours and which mean stop immediately
    • · Braking, steering and suspension faults and how they feel
    • · Fuel economy, emissions and eco-safe driving technique

    Mistakes learners repeat on this topic

    • · Quoting 1.6mm as an all-weather safe depth rather than the legal minimum
    • · Checking tyre pressures when the tyres are hot instead of cold
    • · Treating an amber warning lamp as something to ignore
    • · Forgetting that an over-inflated tyre wears in the centre, not the edges

    Instructor tip: Learn the warning lamp colours as a traffic-light system: red stop, amber investigate, green or blue informational.

    How this comes up in the real test

    Questions from safety and your vehicle appear throughout the 50-question multiple-choice section, and the wording changes between versions. Learn the rule rather than the sentence: the DVSA can ask the same point from the opposite direction, and a memorised answer falls over the moment the phrasing moves.

    The pass mark is 43 out of 50, so seven wrong answers is your entire margin. If a whole category is shaky, run the topic practice below until you are getting every question right for the right reason, then go back to full mocks under the clock.

    Practise Safety and your VehicleSit a full mock test

    More safety and your vehicle questions

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